In his keynotes and recordings, world-class motivational speaker and sales trainer Zig Ziglar often talks about the importance of having meaningful, specific goals. And he'll drive home his point with the rhetorical question, "What would you rather be in life, a meaningful specific or a wandering generality?" As marketers and business ... more

Walk through any bookstore and you'll find dozens of books about the marketing and branding efforts of corporate America. The process of corporate communication has been thinly sliced and diced over and over, but what you won't find is a book about the one truly essential characteristic in our 21st ... more

Here are three new ways for you, and your creative team, to trigger some gigantic ideas. more

Ah, sales and marketing. They're like two siblings fighting in the back seat while mom, pop—or a company executive—drives the car. Jonathan doesn't know how to stop all this bickering (and he's not interested in "who started it"), but here he suggests a few ways those of us on the marketing ... more

Pay-per-click advertising is the biggest lead-generation breakthrough to come about in a long time. For small and midsize companies, in particular—and thanks to its ability to narrowly target prospects, tightly manage spending, and precisely measure results—PPC is one of the most efficient lead generation tools ever developed. It does, however, have ... more

In today's workforce, employees who are Spanish speakers give companies a competitive advantage. Smart companies do not put the cart before the horse: They build an infrastructure of Hispanic employees before advertising to Hispanic market segments. more

Blog advertising expenditures have exploded in the past year. Companies can make a really big brand splash for relatively little money, meaning that blogs provide advertisers an excellent opportunity to reach a devoted audience niche. But blog numbers, until recently, have been little more than curiosities to big brands. more

Sometimes, copywriters and content writers write in clichés. They say things like, "Company X offers an integrated end-to-end solution." To a reader, the line has barely any meaning, and certainly no impact. Why not? Because it is too familiar. Because he or she has read the same phrase too many times ... more

Relationships. Trust. Delivery of superb value. These are core ingredients of a successful service firm. Talk to 100 service firm marketers and leaders, and they'll all tell you (and most of them believe it) that their firm is at the top of their industry in each of these categories. Why, then, ... more

Old news: Green products don't work, and consumers won't pay a premium for them. New news: Investment in environmentally preferable products and technologies can lead to a potent new source of innovation and competitive advantage. more

Writing for business-to-business lead generation is a balancing act: On the one hand, you want as great a response rate as possible; on the other, you don't want to clog the sales pipeline with useless leads—people who don't have the authority, interest, or money to buy what you're selling. Here are ... more

Most of the direct mail sent uses one of two copywriting techniques. In the author's view, neither works. The truth is there are only four ways of writing a direct mail ad that will raise your response rate. more

As tech marketing experts, we have a responsibility to communicate what our product is and what it does—early, and often. If within our array of marketing material we can successfully explain what our product is, how it benefits the customer and answer questions regarding its features, we will differentiate ourselves ... more

Before you release any communications to prospects or customers, gauge how your copy scores on the B/S Index. What is the B/S Index? It's not what you think it is—it's the Believability/Simpatico Index. There are five components to the Index. more

Is there a better way to support sales? Is there something you can leave with prospects that's just a bit more memorable—and more effective—than the standard brochure with its forced march through company "visions," product descriptions, and corporate bios? Yes, indeed. Here are eight suggestions, not as comprehensive answers to every ... more

Marketers are much more aware of the significant opportunity that varying demographic groups present. What's more, they realize that they can no longer afford to neglect the combined buying power of ethnic Americans who, according to estimates, make up $1.3 trillion or 18.5 percent of all US buying. To appeal to ... more

Management wants more leads, but you can't get an increase in your budget. To meet their demands, you have to lower your cost per lead. You have to either increase response rates or cut your cost per contact. There are literally dozens of ways to accomplish those goals. Here are 10. more

Savvy marketing professionals understand that sales and marketing must work together to move prospects through the sales pipeline. This is especially important in the complex sale with long decision making cycles and multiple buyers that need to be influenced. The good news is that Web content drives people through and ... more

The secret to successful copy is in all the thought, work and research you do before you write a single word. In the following 10 tips, Kranz lifts the curtain to reveal the backstage mechanics you can leverage for more effective copywriting. Get the full story. more

Your direct mail package clears a major hurdle when your prospect opens the envelope. The moment of truth has arrived. The next 3-5 seconds will largely determine whether your marketing effort is a success or failure, because it's during those critical first few seconds that your prospect decides whether to ... more

Customer acquisition directly contributes to your bottom line. Use the following five strategies to help you improve subscriptions to your content—print or online. more

For many organizations, 'tis the season to shop for talent, especially copywriters. But it's awfully hard to look beyond the exterior to identify the talent who will really work for you. And while there are no fool-proof formulas for finding winners, you can take measures—right at the start of ... more

You've heard it many times: If you want your marketing materials to do their job, you have to stress benefits, not features. Ultimately, your target readers don't care about what your product does. They care about what your product does for them. But with all the focus on "benefits," it's ... more

Every year Steve conducts a survey of his subscribers to identify ways that marketers are squeezing more sales out of their direct marketing. Here are some learnings from this year's report. The 10 tips offer new inspiration for direct mail campaigns. more

This article is a Five-Minute Communication Test: Do you have connectors? In precisely five minutes, you can find out for yourself if your copy on your Web site/brochure/sales letter etc., will be read by your customer from start to finish. It's a simple, yet extremely powerful test. more